An inmate at an Indiana psychiatric hospital died after being kept in solitary confinement for 20 days as punishment for pulling a nurse's hair, according to a lawsuit.

A lawsuit filed by the Budge and Heipt law firm on behalf of the victim's estate alleged that Joshua McLemore, 28, was placed in solitary confinement on June 20, 2021, Fox News reported. He was allegedly placed in confinement during the middle of an "acute psychotic episode" and was denied all medical care.

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He lost 45 pounds over a short period, according to the report. Security footage showed that McLemore got about 15 hours of sleep total during the 20-day confinement, an Indiana State Police detective found.

"For almost three weeks, Josh spent his waking hours sitting down, getting up, lying on the floor, staring into space, randomly gesticulating, twirling his blanket, playing with his food, rolling around in trash, smearing his feces, eating paper, randomly twisting his body into various contortions, staring into the security camera, chewing Styrofoam, and attempting in vain to look out of the covered window in his door, as well as displaying other erratic and peculiar behaviors," the lawsuit claimed.

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The footage showed "the inhumane nature of Josh’s confinement, his active psychosis, and his deteriorating condition over the course of his confinement," the lawsuit added.

McLemore was finally admitted to a hospital on Aug. 9, 2021, where he died two days later. His cause of death was listed as "multiple organ failure due to refusal to eat or drink with altered mental status due to untreated schizophrenia."